Tag Archives: screened porch

Hopefully we’ll manage to trap the tiny ones! The screen porch came with a basically useless screen door. The bugs (and toddlers) just flew/walked right through it. Something obviously had to be done, but there was no budget for a new door. Thank goodness for bulk item pick up! Some one had a solid wood bottom screen door in their pile, so I crammed that thing in the van so fast! It’s definitely not new, but call it character and all is well! A bit of sanding/filling/gluing, rescreening with the old door screen, hardware laying around in a closet, and new hinges and paint, and we’ve got my favorite kind of project: rescued and nearly free!

Don’t mind the Happy Halloween banner. We’ll redecorate eventually. Maybe in time for the 4th of July.

Advertisements

Like this:

Apparently I can’t come up with even bad puns at 1am for clever post titles. Deck progressed is rapid, awesome, and loud. We leave everyday when the sawing and pounding start so the girls can get to sleep for their naps.

So far we love the dry lock aluminum decking. It looks great and feels incredibly solid.

Like this:

Auf wiedersehen goodnight! To you and you and you and you and yooouuuuu! Or, just to craptastic deck number one!

Patsy Lou sat on our bed watching out the window for hours. It really was quite fascinating. The small crew made quick work of ripping down the deck, though it was quite the loud ordeal. With young kids that need their naps, we packed up and are spending our days out of the house while the construction goes on.

By the end of the day, they had not only destroyed the old one, footings were poured and some of the framing was up for the new one. We are using cedar for most of the framing. The reasons for this are numerous, so here’s a quick list: bugs (carpenter ants, termites), sun (west facing), pretty (raised deck, so framing is quite visible), stable/durable. The deck surface will be aluminum. I’m nothing if not a good shopper, and I found an interesting product.

Dry Lock is aluminum decking (duh), that locks together to form a water tight seam. Hence the name. I like self explanatory. So yeah, it’s cool. Can’t wait to see real pieces, 16′ long instead of just the small samples I ordered (for free) months ago.

Tangent! (I know, you’re shocked) I need to open a store with all of the samples we have from various companies for various building/remodeling stuff. Since we tend to go for new/unusual/eco hippy stuff, and are indecisive, we often have to order samples direct from manufacturers as opposed to just seeing something at Orange or Blue. So yeah, we have a lot of samples. Instead if a store, maybe I could do some really cool pinteresty art project.

Back to the deck: this deck is going to be a screened in porch. So having gaps between deck boards = mosquitos still eating me. More importantly since the whole project is to make our house easy to navigate via wheelchair/scooter, dry lock avoids gaps/cracks/shifting that could trip up wheels. Dry Lock also has a grit to the texture so it shouldn’t get slippery even when wet. Not that we ever spill drinks. Ahem. It’s coating also should keep it coolish in the summer. Then there’s the zero maintenance. Yay for something in this house we won’t have to always fix our paint! Aaaaand it’s basically perfect for this application.

I haven’t even gotten to the craigslist doors, siding, roofing, or actual lift! Another day. The CMA’s are on and awesome. George Strait and Alan Jackson are singing in stage together right now! So onto pictures.

Oh, and this took so long I have photos of days 1 and 2.

Day 1

Progress end of day 2

Dry Lock samples. We are getting the dark brown color because Patricia told us we had to get the chocolate one. Definitely my kid.